Nothing to Cluck About: Harry Styles Wins PETA’s 2022 Best Viral Moment for Animals Award
Written by djfrosty on December 1, 2022
Harry Styles has a new award to add to his collection of Grammy, VMA, AMA and Billboard Music trophies. On Thursday (Dec. 1), PETA announced that the 28-year-old pop star is one of this year’s winners of the animal rights organization’s Libby Awards after he was captured on video declining a fan’s offering of chicken nuggets.
According to a release, the Libby Awards — a play on the word “liberation” — are given out by PETA’s youth division, and recognize individuals, brands and products that “go above and beyond for animals.” Styles was specifically honored with the Best Viral Moment for Animals award, beating out other nominees Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian, Bella Hadid and Jimmy Fallon.
The now award-winning moment in question went down back in August, when Styles was pelted with chicken nuggets while performing a concert at Madison Square Garden. When fans started chanting “Eat it! Eat it!” Styles told his audience: “I don’t eat chicken. Sorry. I don’t eat meat.”
“First of all, this is cold,” he continued in the moment, at a loss for words. “Would you like it back? Don’t eat it!”
According to PETA, anyone who follows Styles’ lead in going for a meat-free diet will “save the lives of nearly 200 animals per year.”
Other Libby winners this year include Daisy Ridley, who sent a letter to the University of Massachusetts–Amherst calling for an end to experiments conducted on marmosets named after Star Wars characters, and Nicola Peltz Beckham, who advocated for animal adoption on Instagram.
“These compassionate celebrities prove that helping animals can be as simple as leaving chickens off their plates, speaking out against cruel experimentation, or adopting from shelters,” said PETA senior vice president Lisa Lange in a statement. “It’s a ‘Sign of the Times’ that these entertainers and influencers are advocating for animals, and PETA is honoring Harry, Daisy, and Nicola for leading by example.”
See Harry Styles’ PETA award-winning chicken nugget moment below: